Wildlife Protection

Keeping It Simple: Easy Ways to Help Wildlife Along Roads

Small sign helps protect wildlife during routine construction and maintenance work

It can be a tough job identifying environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs) and the habitats of protected species, especially if the species are hard to see. To make it easier for construction and maintenance crews to recognize these areas, the Georgia Department of Transportation installs permanent ESA signs on project sites where there are threatened or endangered plant communities or wildlife species. Notations on construction plans prevent highway contractors from staging and storing equipment on these sites or conducting certain undesired activities - for example, spraying herbicides or clearing vegetation. The signage has particularly benefited such protected fish and mussel species as the blue shiner, the Conasauga logperch, the goldline darter, the amber darter, and the upland combshell mussel.